Not sure how much truth there is to it but when i was talking with a Gander mountain employee he said the blanks on their rods came from the same blank manufacturer as 13 Fishing.

Unless he was the buyer for the import rod category he would not know where they come from. There are a ton of makers in china and they shop for the best price on their specs.Academy and the other big box stores are the same.

Not sure how much truth there is to it but when i was talking with a Gander mountain employee he said the blanks on their rods came from the same blank manufacturer as 13 Fishing.

He was blatantly lying to you or he was very confused. They use some cheap blanks that are a dime a dozen. I've fooled around with a few or their store brand rods and I was very unimpressed. They're all really soft, 13 Omen Black rods tend to run stiff. There's no comparison between the two.